Thursday, 20 June 2013

Bank on Birds with TSB!

19th June.The all weather birder trio of Tom, Sam and Brian were off in the sun to
the coast today and it turned out to be quite a day.

We began rather late at Hauxley Nature Reserve, as timings had
been arranged after the S and B of TSB had spent a very long day and evening on
and around the Farne
Islands yesterday (more
of that at a later date).There was much
botanical interest at Hauxley today and lots of Orchids in flower, but our day
was to focus on birds in the main.We
were greeted by Tree Sparrows.The reserve looked good in the sun, although
there was nothing to set the pulse racing.We watched from the hide as one Mute
Swan cleared the pond of a flock of GreylagGeese and everything else apart from
the Mallards which seemed happy to
ignore the Mute Swan’s presence.One of the Greylag Geese was split from the group and spent most of it’s time
under water being hounded (perhaps that should read ‘swanned’) by the Mute Swan, until it got off the pond in
a rather bedraggled state.Canada Geese, Oystercatcher, Lapwing,Redshank and Grey Herons were around in numbers.Willow Warbler was seen and
heard before we left for East Chevington.

Sam was briefly introduced to the metal hide at East Chevington, but we all remained outside of it.The sun was warming up now.It was good to note that two pairs of Great Crested Grebes have nests on
North Pool.Hopefully they will be
successful.We pondered upon whether there
may be a relative of the Killingworth pair here!Tom found an eclipse Pintail in the distance.We
checked for Roseate Terns, but found only Common,
Arctic and Sandwich Terns.Other birds
on North Pool included Shelduck,
Shoveller, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon and Tufted Duck.A Curlew was spotted on one of the
islands as was a summer plumaged Dunlin.The reed-bed held Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Reed Bunting.It was Sam who
initially heard the reeling of Grasshopper
Warbler and we found it out in the open and all had good long sightings.More Grey
Herons flew in the area. And Skylark
and Meadow Pipit sang.A female Sparrowhawk
flew over and headed for the trees.Common Buzzards were seen on a couple
of occasions around the area.

Grasshopper Warbler. Courtesy of Tom M (digiscope with mobile)

The sighting of the Grasshopper
Warbler had been a good one and I thought it might well be my bird of the
day, and then as we prepared to move on we found the pair of Druridge Marsh Harrier.The male was seen first of all and give very
good sightings.As the male went off
hunting over the reed beds the female appeared.The male eventually returned with prey and the two birds flew together
in the sky at times, being approached by corvids.The prey was eventually taken down and the
male lifted once more.It was all quite
a sight so I hope the couple we had spoken to earlier who had come to the area
to try and spot the harriers actually saw them.We bumped into K H at this point and enjoyed a chat whilst I got the
macro out to photograph a large caterpillar.

Marsh Harrier

Drinker Moth caterpillar. Thanks go to Andrew H for ID suggestion.

So named because of the habit of the caterpillar of drinking droplets of rain or dew from the likes of grass stems.

We set off towards Cresswell and stopped on the way at
Druridge Pools where Sam had seen Little Gulls last week.We found four Little Gulls today, a year tick for me.We were all thrown a little by the appearance
of a not long fledged Black HeadedGull.The highlight here was finding with in a few minutes Pied, Grey and YellowWagtail, the
latter being a lifer for Sam who has had quite a week!Before setting off for Cresswell we found
both Cinnabar Moths and Small Copper Butterflies.The Macro was back out again and with a
little persistence images were got.

Small Copper Butterfly

As we approached the pond at Cresswell it became obvious
that the water levels were high.We took
a stop at the north end but found little apart from Pied Wagtail.Tree Sparrow was seen as we walked
towards the pond.Once in the hide we
added Little Grebe and Pochard to our day list.Sandwich
Tern flew over and more numbers of Sedge
Warblers and Reed Bunting were
seen again.Then we had another very
good sighting of a female Marsh Harrier
as it hunted over the reeds close to the road. We felt that because of the present dynamics
this was unlikely to have been the female we had seen earlier in the day.It was mid afternoon by now and I was
beginning to feel hungry as I’d only eaten a couple of Sam’s crisps
earlier.I remembered I had a sandwich
left over from yesterday, so as needs must, I ate it.

Marsh Harrier at Cresswell

Newbiggin was our next stop in the expectation of finding
Mediterranean Gulls.I initially thought
we were going to be unlucky but one a lone distant bird seemed to be what we
had been after, so we set off walking and eventually had a very good sighting
of Mediterranean Gull.This was another lifer for Sam and another
year tick for me.Unfortunately the gull
clearly had a badly damaged leg which it seemed unable to place weight upon so
this may explain whilst it was out there all alone.As I was wondering if it could fly, it proved
it could by flying off over the beach and houses.Eider
Duck were seen on what was an otherwise very calm and quiet sea.It was getting hotter as we set off for
Seaton Sluice and the fish and chip shop.

Mediterranean Gull. Courtesy of Tom M. (digiscope with mobile)

On arrival at Seaton Sluice we found that the ‘chippy’
wasn’t open for another hour so we went off to St Mary’s Island.It was very hot by now!The wetland was very quiet but we did add Common Whitethroat to the day list and Sand Martins were seen.Both male and female Common Scoter were seen on the sea and the small number of passing
birds include Puffin and Guillemot.

So there was only one place left to go to now and that was
for our fish and chips.All three of us
feeling quite tired by now I think.We’d
had a great day and it was wonderful to feel the cooling breeze on our faces as
we left to make for home whilst watching the hovering Kestrel.There had been
some great sightings amongst the day list of seventy-one bird species.It had been good to watch and think about
bird behaviour.Quite a few insects had
been seen, including lots of day flying moths, and Tom had seen a Weasel as we passed through Cresswell.

Yes you can bank on TSB to have a good day’s birding
(what ever the weather) and some laughs.Thanks to Tom for providing the transport.

About Me

''Use the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best.”-- Henry Van Dyke.
If you think the common can be as exciting as the rare then this blog may be for you, as it attempts to express my passion for birds and nature. All are part of my daily life and my home patch is all within walking distance of my home, although I often explore wider areas. I ought to be described as a naturalist rather than a birder. I believe that all who take an interest in nature will be well rewarded, but that such rewards ought not to be without reciprocation. My own contribution is made by volunteering, much of which is done in an attempt to help others share in the experience of the natural world. I attempt to reflect my interest in conservation and the fact that I believe the future of a natural world seriously in trouble relies very much relies on an openness of information to all responsible people. Responsible being the key word, and I therefore hope to keep the welfare of wildlife paramount at all times.